Faithful by Louise Bay Page A

and waist and my barely containable breasts must seem dumpy, perhaps too obvious for his taste, although I never heard him complain. He took the opportunity to trade up, simple as that.
    Somehow , though, I just couldn’t see them together. Charlie was a bit of a snob, to be honest, and from what he had said about his parents thinking I was “for fun,” it ran in the family. What would they say about Fran? She was so far from the other side of the tracks she was on a different continent.
    Fran’s family, which consisted of her mother and a younger brother, certainly didn’t have money or status . She had been the first in her family to go to University. Her brother had had his share of problems with drugs but was now working in a factory just outside of her hometown of Coventry; he was married with two children, in his mid-twenties.
    I couldn’t imagine Charlie spending Christmases in a two -bedroom flat over a convenience store in Coventry. His idea of an idyllic Christmas was with his parents, at their country house in Scotland, spending his time huntin’, shootin’, and fishin’.
    Perhaps she had changed him. Maybe it was just physical, her beauty combined with sexual prowess. Maybe it was just a fling, a final sowing of his oats before he settled down to one woman for the rest of his life.
    Images from the last time Charlie and I had sex flickered through my head and I cringed. He must have been comparing us. Oh god, how horrible. She would have been so much more forthcoming than I was, more confident, more ... creative. I had thought we were finally reconnecting after a few months of me being distant and doubtful. I hadn’t realized I was being scored, and if I didn’t rate highly enough I would lose my fiancé. But the distance I created in the first place must have started it, pushed him away, forced him into Fran’s bed because he wasn’t getting the attention he needed—the attention he deserved —from me. Maybe I had done this.
    Tears started to flow again and , embarrassed about feeling so sorry for myself, I pretended to sneeze, wiped them away, and waved at the stewardess for a top-up. I wanted to drift off into unconsciousness and not think about this anymore. At some point the alcohol must have its desired effect because the next thing I knew we thudded to the ground at Cancun International Airport.
    “Hey , sleepyhead. I was beginning to think you were never going to wake up. You’ve been passed out like the dead. Come on, brush your hair. Try not to look like a homeless person. This is a really nice hotel we’re going to.” Anna smiled. If you didn’t know her, you could be easily offended. But I knew she was trying to cheer me up, get me to see the future and not wallow in Charlie’s betrayal.
    In all the drama, I managed to push to one side my embarrassment about what happened between Daniel and me. I was so taken up in my grief over Charlie that finally descended on me like a cloud as I had relayed the situation to Anna that I managed to relegate what happened with Daniel to the separate part of my brain that stored up fuel for my neurosis for when I next needed it. There was always plenty of fuel slushing around in there and I was used to keeping a lid on it. God, I really hope we didn’t get the Palmerston job. I could never face him again.
    The hotel was all Anna promised it would be. We had a beautiful two -bedroom suite with a balcony off the living area that opened out onto the beach and a hot tub. The bed was huge and canopied. Very romantic , I thought wistfully.
    I quickly changed into my bikini and raced down to the pool to meet Anna. Some vitamin D would improve my mood, I was sure of it. I found Anna at the bar flirting up a storm with the very handsome, topless, barman.
    “Fast work!” I teased as we headed to our loungers.
    “Yes , a little work up front and hopefully our drinks will be constantly refreshed without another word all week. Besides, did you see the bod on